The Delhi High Court directed to process refund as Input Tax Credit (ITC) refund was filed within the time prescribed under Section 54(1) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017.
The petitioner, Mahalaxmi Exports, is essentially aggrieved by the denial of refund of its unutilised Input Tax Credit (‘ITC’) in respect of zero-rated supplies. The petitioner had filed an application, seeking refund of the unutilised ITC of a sum of ₹9,45,816/-.
The petitioner’s application was acknowledged by the concerned authorities by issuing requisite form (GSTRFD-02). Thereafter, on the same date, the concerned authorities issued a Show Cause Notice (‘SCN’) in Form GST-RFD-08, proposing to reject the petitioner’s application as being barred by time.
According to the concerned authorities, the petitioner’s application was not filed within the stipulated period of two years from the relevant date as required under Section 54(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (‘CGST Act’).
The petitioner contended that the delay was for bona fide and genuine reasons as the pandemic was raging since March, 2020, and the petitioner could not file his application for refund, due to the disruption caused as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Mahajan observed that “The notification no. 13/2022-Central Tax dated 05.07.2022 expressly provides that the period commencing from the 1 st day of March, 2020 to 28th February, 2022, would be excluded, inter alia, for the purposes of filing the refund application under Section 54 or Section 55 of the CGST Act. Undisputedly, the petitioner’s application for refund was within the time limit as prescribed under Section 54(1) of the CGST Act, if the said period is excluded.”
The Court further directed the respondents to process the petitioner’s refund application along with the applicable interest within a period of two weeks from today.
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